Serving tray



Patented pr. 19276.

Unirse stares 1,580,007 ,PATENT oFFieE.

CLARENCE ROSS BRYANT AND ALBERT F. VESS, 0F ST. LOUIS, MISSORI.

SERVING TRAY.

Applicationv filed september 23,1925. Y serial No. 58,109.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be ity known that we, CLARENCE Rossl BRYANT and ALBERT F. lVEIss, citizens of the United States, residing at the city of St. Louis, State of Missouri, have invented a certain new and usefull Improvement in Serving Trays, of which the following is a. specification, reference being made yto the accompanying drawing, forming a rpart thereof.

This invention relates to a certain new and useful improvement in serving-trays and has for its primary objectthe provision of a tray of simple and inexpensive' form and structure that may with ease and convenience be removably attached in serving position as upon an automobile-door or the like in the performance of 'so-called curb service.

And with the above and other objects in View, our present invention resides in the novel features of form, construction, arrangement, and combination of parts hereinafter described and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawing,

Figure 1 is a side elevational view, partly broken away and in section, of a servingtray embodying our invention;

Figure 2 is a side elevational view of the tray in releasably attached position upon a support; and

Figure 3 is an enlarged detail section of the tray taken approximately onr the line 3--3, Figure 1.

Referring now more in detail and by reference characters to the drawing, which illustrates a preferred embodiment of our in` vention, A indicates the body of the tray, which is preferably in the form of a circular plate or disk annularly ornamentally flanged or lipped'at its peripheral margin, as at 1, and depending from the under face of the plate A is a plurality of legs or the like 2 for facilitating convenient resting of the tray upon a table, counter, or other support.

Formed preferably of a single section of suitable preferably sheet metallic material, as best seen in'Figure 3, is a cylindrical shell or casing-member 3 and casing-hangers 4, which latter at their ends are suitably flanged and soldered or otherwise fixed,ras at 5, to and upon the under face of plate A and by which hangers the casing or shellmember 3 is suspended under and in spaced approximately.V parallel relation tol the plate A, as seen in Figures 1 and 2.

Fixed to and closing the one or so-called rear e'nd'ofV tube or shell 3, is an end wally 6, and disposed for sliiftable movement within Aand longitudinally relatively to the shell 3, is' a cylindrical plunger 7 closed at its one or forward end, as at 8, and provided upon diametrically opposite sides with outwardly presented oppositely disposed studs 9, 9, which fit for movement in slots 10, 10, corlrespondingly formed longitudinally, in diametrically opposite sides of the shell 3.l

Pivoted at its angle, as at V11, to and uponl the hangers 4 and bifurcatedV or forked to include both forwardly and rearwardly pre# sented` spaced legs, 12, 12, and 13, 13, respectively, straddling the shell 3, is 'a lever B of bell-crank form, whose forwardly presented legs 12 are longitudinally slotted, as at 14, to fit upon and movably engage with the studs 9. Preferably the rearwardly presented legs 13 of the bell-crank B, are eonneeted by a cross-piece 15 to facilitate manual actuation of the lever, and disposed within the telescopically fittingv shell 3 and plunger 7 and abutting at its opposite ends against the one end wall G of shell 3 and the one end wall 8' of plunger 7 is a coiled spring 16 whose tension is exerted to maintain the plunger 7 in outwardly projected position relatively to shell 3, as seen in Figure 1, with the studs 9 engaging the limiting forward end-walls of the lslots 10, 10.

Fixed to and depending from `the underface of the plate A, is a substantially rigid wall or abutment 17, which preferably, ai best seen in Figure 1, is Vspaced somewhat from the forward end of the plunger 7 when the latter' is in its normal outwardly projected position under the tension of the contained spring 16.

In use and operation, for instance, inv

upon the door with the latter interposed be;

tween the fixed wall or abutment 17 and the retracted plunger 7, whereupon pressure upon lever B is relieved, when the plunger 7 is projected forwardly under the tension of the spring 1G to engage the opposite side of the interposed door 18. Ther door 18 is thus yieldingly clamped between the lixed Wall 17 and the plunger 7 with sufficient grip to lirmly support the tray A in serving position upon the door 18, the plunger 7 being again retracted by actuation of lever B when it is desired to remove the tray.

We are aware that minor changes in the form, construction, arrangement, and combination of the several parts of our new tray may be made and substituted for those herein shown and described Without departing from the nature and principle of our invention.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. In a serving-tray, a plate, in combination with means carried by the plate for detvacliably fastening the plate in tray-serving position upon a support, said means including a fixed support-engaging member oepending rigidly from the plate, a shell suspendedfrom and under the plate, a plunger disposed for sliilftable movement within and relatively to the shell for co-operation with the fixed member, a spring having engagement with the shell and plunger for normally holding the plunger yieldingly in projected position relatively to the shell, and a lever having engagement with the shell and plunger for retracting the plunger against the tension o'f the spring.

2. In a serving-tray, a plate, in combina tion with means carried by the plate for detachably fastening the plate in tray-serving position upon a support, said means including a lined support-engaging member depending rigidly l'rom the plate, a shell suspended from and under the plate, 'a plunger disposed for shiftable moven'ient Within and relatively to the shell nfor (zo-operation with the lined memberg a spring having engagement with the shell and plunger -for normally holding the plunger yieldingly vin projected position relatively to the shell, and a bell-crank lever, i'iulcrrmed upon the shell and having slot-and-pin connection with the plunger for retracting the' plunger against the tension of the spring. 'A

ln testimony whereof, We have signed our` naines to this speeilication. i

CLARENCE ROSS BRYANT. ALBERT F. 'WEISS 

